We the (Black) People

Latest Episodes:

Why Would Black Soldiers Fight After the Civil War (Through WWI)? Oct 15, 2022

Show notes

When Black men enlisted in the army after the Civil War, it wasn't just to fight for their country. They fought for something personal and for something bigger than themselves. Professor Le’Trice D. Donaldson, author of Duty beyond the Battlefield: African American Soldiers Fight for Racial Uplift, Citizenship, and Manhood, 1870–1920, helps me tell that story.

Music Credit

Examining Monkeypox through Black Activism in the AIDs Crisis Sep 15, 2022

Show notes

Since Monkeypox became another disease to worry about, people have been comparing it to HIV/AIDs when looking at how America is treating the outbreak. There seem to be valid similarities, so let's take a look at the AIDs crisis in Black America. As Black people got AIDs at a higher rate than other groups, they organized and advocated for themselves when no one else would. That activism is the subject of To Make the Wounded Whole: The African American Struggle Against HIV/AIDS by this episode's guest Professor Daniel Royles.

Different groups across the country took radically different approaches to address the AIDs crisis in Black America. Some worked specifically with gay Black men while others had wider targets like all Black people or gay men of color. Others advocated for Black women and some even did international work in Africa. The Nation of Islam even shows up in the story.

So, let's go back to the 1980s and 1990s to understand what to do about Monkeypox right now.

Music Credit

Centering Black Women in the Reproduction/Abortion Discussion Aug 15, 2022

Show notes

Before Dobbs v. Jackson or Roe v. Wade, the government legislated control over Black women's reproduction in America. That started way back in 1662 in Virginia. Tracing this long history with me is Professor Jennifer L. Morgan, author of Laboring Women: Reproduction and Gender in New World Slavery.

Centering Black women in today's debates and laws about reproduction and women's rights reveals a long history of racism, capitalism, and slavery. As it turns out, the logic behind Dobbs and the laws following after it starts with early contact between Africans and Europeans and with some of the first Africans to arrive in America.

It is centuries of history to untangle and dismantle, but starting the story at the beginning with the often-overlooked history of Black women is a good place to start.

Music Credit

Desegregating American Amusement Jul 30, 2022

Show notes

Up until very recently, recreation in America at places like pools, roller rinks, and amusement parks was segregated. It took decades of work for Black Americans to gain the basic right to inhabit public spaces in their cities. That is the subject of Race, Riots, and Roller Coasters: The Struggle Over Segregated Recreation in America by Professor Victoria Wolcott.

Black Americans staged sit-ins, sued many facilities, and endured a lot of white violence in pursuit of equal access to recreation and amusement. And, in the end, many of the stereotypes and justifications for exclusion used back then still circulate today. And, cities generally have significantly fewer venues for public recreation.

Music Credit

Family Separation During Slavery: A Genealogical Dilemma Jul 15, 2022

Show notes

Not every slave experienced family separation, but the prospect of it affected every enslaved person. Children could be separated from their parents and husbands could be separated from their wives. Help Me to Find My People :The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery by Heather Andrea Williams explores how people dealt with this reality.

It is a sad, yet remarkable story. Not every enslaved person held out for family reunification, but a surprising number did. For decades after the Civil War, people put information wanted ads in newspapers hoping to find long-lost families. Those ads are what inspired Professor Williams to write this book.

I call it a genealogical dilemma because very few people did find their families again after the Civil War. The movements of enslaved peoples through sales weren't well documented. These two realities mean that Black descendants of enslaved people likely have family they do not know about but cannot easily find when tracing their roots.

Hopefully, that won't deter you from efforts at genealogy work. For me, it only serves as an inspiration to start looking.

Music Credit

Let's Talk Black Anthems, Part II Jun 30, 2022

Show notes

I promised you a part 2 and here it is! This episode continues the discussion of Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora with Professor Shana Redmond. The anthems this time around are:

01:25 - “We Shall Overcome” Before it was an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement, Black women used the song to fuel the Charleston tobacco strike. Their efforts brought the song into the Civil Rights Movement.

15:44 - “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” is an anthem signaling the change from nonviolence to Black power both for Nina Simone and for Black People.

33:14 - "Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika" a song that spans the long history of South African apartheid. The African National Congress spread the song and its call for a liberated Africa around the world.

Music Credit

Afro-Indigenous Detroit History Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

This episode, we're talking about my hometown, Detroit. It's a gentrifying majority-Black city. Professor Kyle Mays - author of City of Dispossessions - sees this current stage of Black Detroiters being dispossessed as part of Detroit's long history of dispossessing both Indigenous and Black people.

Most Native Americans live in cities. Many moved to Detroit around Word War II, and still have relevant issues to discuss.

At the same time, Detroit's white population is growing while its Black population shrinks.

Linking the struggles of these two non-white populations in Detroit presents an interesting history of education, infrastructure, and attempted solidarity.

Music Credit

Chicano Farmers and Civil Rights in Coalition May 15, 2022

Show notes

Solidarity isn't naturally occurring, but it can be amazing.

Like that time Coretta Scott King visited Cesar Chavez in prison. Or when The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee taught nonviolent resistance to Chicano farmworkers in California. Or even when Cesar Chavez went door to door to support Black Panther Party leader Bobby Seale's mayoral campaign in Oakland.

This episode is all about coalition-building between the United Farmer Workers (UFW) and major civil rights organizations. Specifically, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), SNCC, the NAACP, the Urban League, and the Black Panther Party. Not all of these coalitions worked well, so we'll look at what worked and what did not with Professor Lauren Araiza, author of To March for Others: The Black Freedom Struggle and the United Farm Workers.

Hopefully, there's something to learn about building Black and Brown coalitions today from where these coalitions fell apart.

Music Credit

Let's Talk Black Anthems, Part I Apr 15, 2022

Show notes

This episode we take a deep dive into 3 Black Anthems of the 20th century with Professor Shana Redmond, author of Anthem: Social Movements and the Sound of Solidarity in the African Diaspora.

04:32 - The Universal Negro Improvement Association and "Ethiopia (Thou Land of Our Fathers)." How Marcus Garvey and the UNIA instilled Black nationalism.

15:56 - The NAACP and "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing." Uplift culture in an interracial organization.

32:36 - Paul Robeson and "Ol' Man River." Turning a song from a musical called Showboat into an international anthem.

Music Credit

Modern Black Feminist Organizing Mar 30, 2022

Show notes

You didn't think the story of Black feminism ended at the Voting Rights Act, did you?

Turns out there were several influential Black feminist organizations in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. No one ever told me about the Third World Women's Alliance, the National Black Feminist Organization, the National Alliance of Black Feminists, The Combahee River Collective, or Black Women Organized for Action. So, this episode, I discuss them with so Professor Kimberly Springer author of Living for the Revolution Black Feminist Organizations, 1968–1980.

Though they no longer exist, these organizations lend us valuable present insight.

Music Credit

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected